Jesus had died and been raised to life, appeared to the disciples, and finally ascended to the right hand of the Father. Before he left, Jesus gave his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower them for the work of telling the gospel. The church was born—but not abandoned. The early decades of Christianity were intense as the church grew. Fearless proclamation of the gospel brought opposition, internal conflict and new questions about what it meant to follow Israel’s God. This foundational unit takes us through these formative years of the church via the books that record this exciting time. It equips us for studying the New Testament as we learn to interpret and apply the book of Acts and some of the New Testament letters, invaluable skills for ministry and personal Bible knowledge.

Content

Key points are formally enumerated for Acts. We are also to survey (at least) seven major NT epistles. The topics for both are commonly:

The Jerusalem church

Early Christian preaching

Stephen and the Hellenists

The Pauline mission and churches

The Council of Jerusalem

Schism, heresy and external threat in the early church

Romans

Corinthians (especially 1 Corinthians)

Colossians (and introduction to the other ‘Prison Epistles’: Philemon, Ephesians)